Welcome! I’m glad you’re here!

I became fascinated how the whole valley instantly flooded with light as the strong morning rays peaked over the mountain top! Ouray, Colorado, Summer 2023

“This… is a good story.”

A friend said that to me once, in the middle of a bleak chapter. Part of me wanted to punch her, but I had to agree, this had all the elements of a good story: an intriguing, provocative plot line, colorful characters, unexpected twists, climaxing conflict… just no resolution yet. It’s the kind of riveting page-turner I’d like to read on a lazy Saturday; just not the kind I’d want to live. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit, part of me wishes my story read, “She got everything she wanted and lived happily ever after, the END.”

Do you feel your story is a good story?

I’m going to lay my cards down right here and now. I’ve had a really hard time seeing certain parts of mine that way.  My therapist once said, “If I gave you a giant eraser, what parts of your story would you want to get rid of? Those are the ones not at rest within you.” He wasn’t telling me to find the bright side in every difficulty. He was saying that the Author only writes good stories. Could I come to see it that way?

I’m afraid I’ve already lost some of you. Would you hang in there with me little longer? That sentence (the one about the Author!) needs a LOT of nuance and I know I just dropped an unbelievable amount of wrestling. Would you allow me some space to play with these themes, in the stories? I’m in the middle of this within my own story, too.

In this space, I want to tell and highlight good stories. Some mine, some yours, some shared by all of us. Kinds that are vast and overarching, some small and subtle, others bold yet unfinished. The kinds that evoke awakening and imagining.

I also want to write about how we see and make sense of our lived stories. I want to envision how we are meant to wake up in the midst of our stories from our own version of sleepiness, wrought by our past stories, shedding old narratives, and living courageously into the story in which we now find ourselves. As a therapist, I want to offer you some tools for learning to do that if you’d like. But even moreso, I’d like to come as a normal human here, working it out myself. (And yes, therapists are definitely not normal humans.) 

Lastly I want to reflect on pieces of my own story here, and follow where that leads. Not because I assume I have things to teach you, but because I need to practice coming out of hiding in front of other people. Some days it doesn’t go so well. I’ll try to tell the truth about that. On days when the darkness seems to overtake the light, I want to keep seeking to say…

This is a GOOD STORY.

Things you WILL find here:

I will be practicing telling the honest-to-goodness truth in front of other humans. EEK!

I will be reflecting on the Big Questions of Life—The “why’s” and “what for’s” from the Author of the Big Story.

I will be reflecting on Therapy as a resource. As a therapist, I’ll offer perspective for the curious and a bit of education about the unique help that therapy can offer.

I will be sharing Stories with all the wrestling it brings! Heart-breaking, truth-telling, hope-lifting, desire-evoking, imagination-stirring, light-searching. That kind.

I will be playing creatively with fodder that makes for good stories. Poetry, photos, imagination, and other goodies!

I will be inviting you… to slow down and connect with your own story. To ask questions and enter the deep notes within your own life. To join me in the battle of learning to love. And what a worthy battle!

Things you WON’T find here:

I won’t be marketing or selling anything.

I won’t be pretending I know stuff I don’t know.

I won’t be giving platitudes or one-size-fits-all quippy answers.

I won’t be rendering judgments. I surely hope not— but we humans can be pretty blind to this, can’t we? We DO have to find wise discernment though, and that’s different. I’ll do my best to bring that.

I won’t be seeking for you to become a client of mine or add to my counseling practice thru this site. 

What’s written here won’t be a replacement for your own therapy with a wise and trusted guide. (I do encourage you to find yourself one of these!)

“Let us in all the troubles of life, remember that our one lack is LIFE— that what we need is more LIFE—more of the life-making presence in us making us more, and more largely, alive.  When most oppressed, when most weary of “life” as we would phrase it, let us remember that it is, in truth, the inroad and presence of DEATH we are weary of.  When most inclined to sleep, let us rouse ourselves to LIVE.” —George MacDonald